Mirumi Robot Bag Charm

Mirumi, a furry robot that clips onto a handbag and turns its head toward touch and sound, is moving from gadget demo to fashion accessory. (mirumi-us.com) Yukai Engineering first showed Mirumi at CES 2025, and the company says the robot later raised 74 million yen, or about $500,000 at current exchange rates, from 1,870 backers across 32 countries and regions on Kickstarter. (prtimes.jp) The official Mirumi site says the charm robot is scheduled for general release in spring 2026, while the U.S. storefront lists pink, ivory, and gray versions at $165.99 each on preorder. (mirumi.tokyo, mirumi-us.com) Mirumi works like a tiny animatronic plush: a touch sensor in its head detects pats, sound sensors pick up voices and noise, and the robot also makes spontaneous movements when nothing is happening. Its long arms are designed to wrap around bag straps and poles so it can hang like a bag charm instead of sitting on a shelf. (mirumi-us.com) Yukai Engineering says the motions are modeled on baby-like gestures, with Mirumi looking around, making eye contact, and sometimes turning away. The company describes it as a “charm robot” rather than a tool, and its sales pages do not pitch productivity features or a screen. (prtimes.jp, mirumi.tokyo) Fashion coverage has helped push the robot beyond robotics media. Yukai Engineering said Mirumi’s official Instagram account passed 16,000 followers in one month, and the company said in February that Mirumi was set to appear in a Milan Fashion Week collaboration and in a Harrods pop-up in London in early summer. (prtimes.jp) That crossover started early. Designboom and TechCrunch both featured Mirumi from CES 2025 as a bag-mounted robot meant to “delight bystanders,” framing it as a wearable conversation piece as much as a consumer robot. (designboom.com, techcrunch.com) Yukai Engineering is also warning buyers about counterfeit Mirumi lookalikes, a sign that the product’s online visibility is already attracting copycats before full general release. The official site tells customers that unofficial shops selling similar products are not affiliated with Yukai Engineering. (mirumi.tokyo) For now, Mirumi’s appeal is simple: it is sold as a robot, worn as a charm, and circulated online like a collectible. That mix has been enough to carry a CES prototype into fashion feeds and preorder pages within a year. (mirumi-us.com, prtimes.jp)